Many industries produce hazardous waste which must be disposed of in the proper manner. Hospitals and other health care or research facilities must dispose of test tubes containing blood, microhematocrit tubes, contaminated dressings, blood products, and other hazardous wastes. The safety of the health care workers handling the waste is of the utmost importance. However, the costs of disposal must be minimized as well.
The current method for disposing of hazardous medical waste involves filling disposable plastic bags to a preset weight, placing these plastic bags in bum boxes, and sending the filled bum boxes to a waste disposal facility for incineration. Most facilities have adopted the use of red heavy duty polyethylene 30 gallon bags. These bags measure approximately 43.times.11.times.19 inches. Health care facilities generally pay for hazardous waste disposal by the bag rather than by the pound, and therefore prefer that each bag be filled as close as possible to a predetermined weight. Underfilling of bags results in increased expenditure for waste disposal. However, the waste disposal facility generally will not accept bags which exceed a predetermined weight. Most waste disposal facilities impose a 30 pound weight limit per bag. Maximum bum efficiency cannot be achieved for overweight bags. Therefore, if a bag is overfilled a health care worker is required to hand transfer some waste from the overweight bag to another bag. This procedure poses extreme risk to the person handling the hazardous waste, particularly for wounds from broken test tubes which can result in the contraction of potentially fatal diseases.
The waste disposal containers currently used at many hospitals and health care facilities generally consist of large transparent square containers with cumbersome hingedly attached lids. Such lids are typically poorly attached and they break easily. Many problems have been encountered in using the waste disposal containers. First, the dimensions of the containers have caused tear strain on the disposable plastic bags which are typically stretched to fit over the top of the square container. Torn plastic bags may allow waste to escape when the bag is removed from the square container. Secondly, when spills of hazardous waste occur the square containers have been difficult to clean because of their depth. Opening of the cumbersome lid on the square container each time hazardous waste is added to the plastic bag has proven to be inconvenient. Thus, the lid is either left open or permanently removed. When the lid is left open, its entire weight dangles from the hinge, damaging or breaking the hinge. Permanent removal of the lid from the square container potentially exposes health care workers to airborne contaminants. There is a need for a lid which can be opened easily and left open without damaging the container. Finally, there has been no method for checking the weight of the filled plastic bag without removing it from the square container for weighing. If the bag is underweight, it must be once again stretched to fit back in the square container. If it is overweight, waste must be hand transferred to a new plastic bag. This additional handling of the plastic bag and the waste increases the risks to health care workers.
Thus, there is a significant need for an apparatus which allows the weight of the plastic bag to be monitored while the plastic bag is being filled with hazardous waste. Such an apparatus would eliminate the risky practice of hand transferring waste from one bag to another. There is also a need for a hazardous waste disposal apparatus which is designed to hold a disposable plastic bag without putting tear strain on the plastic bag and which allows the plastic bag to be filled to its optimum capacity. It would also be desirable for the square container to be transparent for spill detection and easily disassembled for cleaning. A lid which opens easily and is convenient to use would provide increased safety.